Vertical oil-shale-treating retort



1. It GALLOUPE. VERTICAL olL SHALE TREATINQRETORT.

APPLICATION FILED AUGnlB, i919.

Patented Jan. 18, 1921.

3 SHEE'l'S-SHEET I.

J. H. GALLOUPE. VERTICAL OIL SHALE TREATING RETORT.

` AlPLlCATION FILED AUG,18. |919. 18

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

gall@ ,m0/mfr J. H. GALLOUPE. VERTICAL OIL SHALE TREATING RETORT.

UNITED STATES PATENT 'ori-lcs JOI-IN I-I. GALLOUPE, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR TO THE GALLOUPE SHALE PROCESS COMPANY, OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO, A. CORPORATION OF COLO- KADO.

VERTICAL OIL-SHALE-TREATING RETORT.

Application lled August 18, 1919.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN H. GALLorE, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at the cit and county of Denver and State of Colora o, have invented a new and useful Vertical Oil-ShaleTreating Retort, of which thel following is a specification.

i My invention relates to a new vertical oilshale treating retort and cooperatingv gas condensing apparatus; for the recovery of petroleum oil and other products therefrom.

And the objects of my invention are:

[First: .To provide a vertical retort for giving a roastin and sublimating treatment to oil-bearing s ale rock;

Second: To provide a vertical retort for hydro-carbons and for separating from 0ilbearing shale its various constituent ele ments such as petroleum oil, bitumens. hydro-carbons, and such other volatile elements as exist in oil shale rock;

Third: To provide means for sublimating and condensing the various gases liberated from oil shale during its roasting and sublimating treatment in my retort;

Fourth z To provide a vertically'positioned retort, adapted to give to oil shales a progressive and constantly heat increasing roasting and volatilization treatment that efectually separates all of the elements from oil shale and then to condense the several volatile gases and elements liberated in my retort and recover' them in a commercially useable form.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l, is a vertical sectional elevation through the center of my retort, and a side elevation of thecondensino' apparatus that forms a coperatmg part of 1t.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional viewl thereof on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,- the'temporary brick-work closing the entrance to the stack, being removed.

Figj is a horizontalvsectional view on the Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional viewv of the lower portion of the retort showing the conve er for. removing the material that reaches t 1e lower end of the retort.

Fig. 5 is a sectional perspective view ot' one of the sections of the cylinder of the retort.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 18, 1921.

serial No. 318,342.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the upper end portion vof the inner cylinder.

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view of the Operating sprocket wheel which is secured to the inner cylinder.

Fig. 8 is a plan view thereof.

Fig; 9 is a. plan view of the stationary circular feed spout at the upper end of the retort, and

Fig, 10 is a bottom planV view of the ring secured to the inner tube, having plows or Scrapers for removing the shale from the bottom of the spout, into the retort.

Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: The .numeral 1 designates a brick lire box, within which a lire wall 2. is built, fuel supporting grates 3. are positioned in the fire box, and a fuel entrance door 4. is placed in the front wall 5. of the fire box above the grates, and an ash pit door 6. is also placed in the front wall of the ire box below the grates.

AThe top of the fire box is covered by a brick arch 7. which extends from the front 'wall 5. back to and is built into the adjacent side of the retort 8. which projects vertically above the fire box from a concrete. foundaion 9, that extends also under the tire My new vertically disposed oil-shale treating retort is preferablyof circular construction and it projects above the lire box about twenty feet to forty feet by live feet in diameter for tonnage capacities of from about one hundred to two hundred tons per day.

My oil-shale treating retort comprises an outside cylindrical casing S. that is preferably made of brick and an inner tubular flue l0, the outside surface of which is prothe oil shale feeding-in end.

The inner flue 10, with its multiplicity of separated and independent shelves, constitutes the principal heat-receiving, heat-retaining, and heat-radiating element of the retort, and also its principal shale receiving and sublimatin member. Its lower end is connected by aIIeat-conveying flue with the bottom portion of the fire box, as will be hereinafter described, and the exit at the upper end of the flue is controlled by a' damper l13, mounted in `a stack 14, which is secured to the upper end "of thes-aid flue, as'

will be hereinafter fully described. For convenience in handling and also in casting I preferably make this inner tubular shelf smoke stack member, which I will here' inafter call the shelf tube, in sections of preferably about four feet long, one of the ends of each section of which fits over a rojecting end made on the end of another sunilar section and is secured thereon by setscrews 15.

This inner tubular stack member 10. is surrounded loosely by a cast iron cylindrical housing 18. that is also made for convenience in handling in sections 19., each of which has an annular rim 20. at one end, and a slight annular lange21. at its opposite end, that is of vva diameter to fit inside the rim 20. and thu permit the sections to be assembled to form a cylindrical housing as shown in Fig. 1. The housing sections 18. are made interchangeable, consequently they are easily and quickly built up into a vertical retort and six of them will equal in height when assembled, one of the sections of the shelf tube Which is inserted into the y upper end of a groupv of each six of them as the retort is erected. Each section 19. is provided with a plurality of groups of spirallyarranged shelves or ledges 19A, the shelves of each group over-lapping those of the next succeeding group.

Consequently by the use of these sectionalized inner cylindrical members, retorts of different heights and of different tonnage capacities per day can be built.

The vouter brick-casing of the retort is made of greater diameter than the sectional cylinder that surroundsthe shelftube 10 to form a Hue space 22 allaround it, for the heat and the products of'combustion which flow from the fire-box through a flue 23 into it. The lower end `Jor'tion of the flue 22. is provided with ba e ledges 22A, which are constructed by extending a semicircular coursel of bricks inward into engagement with the sectional cylinder. These semicircular baflies are formed von opposite sides of the flue, those on one side alternating with those on the opposite side. These ballles cause the heat to travel in a zig-zag course, and thus prevent it from traveling on one side of the flue only.

The Hue 22. that is formed between the outer brick casing and the cylindrical housthat forms a surrounding cylinder for the inner shelf-tube, terminate even with the top ofthe brick work 27. and a Hat ring 28. is placed in the recess of the upper Ilange of the upper housing ring.

This flat ring 28. surrounds the shelf-tube and the aperture through it is enough larger than the shelf-tube to allow crushed and pulverized oil shale to How freely through the space between the outside surface of the shelf-tube and the inside periphery of the rlng.

The shelf-tube extends above the ring 28. a short distance, and the hub of a sprocket Wheel 29. is secured thereon, which is connected with a power source, not shown. An annular rim 29A is formed on the sprocket wheel, and a circular hopper, 2913 is placed over the rim 29A. Crushed oil shale is fed to the hopper through a chute 29C. While I have illustrated a sprocket wheel as a means of turning the tube, it will be apparent that any other means of accomplishing the object may be employed. The sprocket wheel is connected to the tube by set screws 30. and the wheel is formed with a series of openings 31. between its hub and toothed portion, which permit the passage of material from .the hopper to the interior of the tube.

This hopper 29B revolves with the wheel, and the shale fed thereto is evenly distrib utedinto the top' of the tube, and in order t0 accomplish this I preferably mount the sprocket. Wheel on ball-bearings in the following manner: The under side of the sprocket wheel hub is in the form of a track 34. having a ball roll therein, and a ring 35. having a ball roll therein, which is supplied with balls, is formed on' the ends of arms 36, that are a part of an annular feed spout 37., the lower end of which rests on top of I the fiat plate 28. The upper end of the spout this spout through these openings, and falls` onto the shelves 11 and 19A of the inner 4and outer cylinders, respectively, and is carried around the space between them in a spiral path, the Shale being pushed from the ledge 11, onto the ledges 19A and vice-versa,

throughout its downward course, until it finally lodges on a sealing plate 42 at the lower end of the sectional cylinder 18.'which is rovided with an outlet opening 43. y

he outlet opening 43 connects with a conveyer tube 44. that extends out through a portion of the wall of the retort, that forms a temporary closure X, for an opening in the wall of the retort. A spiral conveyer 45. is mounted in this conveyer tube on a shaft 46. that projects beyond its outer end and a belt pulley 47. is mounted on the outer end of the shaft 46.-- The outer end ofthe conveyer is closed but a discharging spout 47A is placed in the upper side of the vconveyer tube at its outer end.

The floor ring 42. prevents the shale tailingsV sand that reaches the bottom of the space between the shelf-tube and its housing cylinder, from falling to the floor of the stack8. The material that reaches the plate 42. comprises a tailings gangue sand product from which the petroleum oil and other volatile products have been sublimated in its .falling action from the feed hopper to this Hoor ring, and the sublimated gas product flows from the feed-way space between .the inner and outer cylinders through a multlple series of pipes 48. that are connected at one end to. the apertures 49. formed through alternate sections of the housing cylinder 18.

`These pipes 48, extend to and are connected to the adjacent ends of a series of long horizontally arranged condensing chambers 50. which arealso connected by vertically arranged pipes 51. at their opposite ends, with a long oil reservoir storage and dischargin tube 52. that is provided with a plurality o dripl pipes l53. that Iare separated from each other by partitions 54. that extend across a portion of the lower part of this reservoir, tank.

This oil reservoir 52. naturally receives some uncond'ensed gas,.and it is provided at one end with a gas outlet pipe 55. that extends into and throughthe front wall of the 'lire-box so that it will discharge gas into the fire-box over the grate bars, when it is desired to feed fuel gas to the {ire-box.

The reservoir52y. is also provided at its opposite end with a which the gas may allowed to escape or may be conveyed away and used as desired.

gas outlet pipe 56. from The oil-shale'treating retort contemplates a substantial manner of supportin a number of the lower sections of the cylinder 18, independently of the remaining upper sections, and I also construct the lower portion of the retort in such a manner that an operator can enter through the brick work to the interior of the brick stack, to remove any fire-worn sections and to replace them. I preferably carry out this feature of my invention in the following manner:

rl`he brick walls at the bottom of the retort on the opposite side from the fire-box is reinforced or buttressed for a portion of its height as shown at 57. in order that the stack may not be weakened where the opening occurs, which has the temporary filling X. O ne of the outer cylinder sections, preferably the seventh section from the bottom, is formed with three projecting feet 58.-see Fig. 3-which rest upon the adjacent course of brick in the stack, and this section 59. supports all of the sections above it, the sections below the section 59. being removable, and are supported in a manner to be presently described. A plate 60. is secured to the plate 42. and the plate 60. is formed with an annular channel into which the lower end4 of the tube 10 extends, and the material on the plate 42. works into this channel, and surrounds the lower end of the tube thus sealing the same. A fire clay flue 61. extends from the fire-box, and has an unturned end which enters the axial opening in the plate 60. and this flue carries the heat from the fire-box into the tube 10.

The tem orary closure X is built into the openin 0 the wall, after the parts of the retort ave been assembled, and itl remains until it is necessary to remove the lower sections of the retort, when the said temporary closure is removed to afford access to the interior of the stack.

Upon the foundation or Hoor of the stack are secured three track rails 62 that extend from the back of the brick casing through the opening and beyond the retort a short distance. On these three rails I mount a truckl 63. that consists of the axles 64. and truck wheels 65.

On the axles I place a plate 66. on which angle irons 67. are secured at its opposite sides, each of which has a long arm member 68. that extends vertically above the track, and a horizontal inverted channel plate 69. is supported on the truck between 'the arms 68.

vertically positioned adjustment bolts 70. are extended loosely through the channel plate 69., the lower ends of which are threadedand washer nuts 71. are threaded to them and rest on the top of the channel bar.

The upper ends of these adjusting bolts bear against the under side of the circular channel plate 60. and thus support all of the sections of the outer cylinder below the section 59. This circular trough ring 60. centralizes and confines the lower end of the shelf-tube 10., and the plate 42. to which itis secured supports the bottom sections of the housing cylinder that surrounds the shelftube.

Six of these sections are shown supported by the circular plate 42. and by means of the bolts 70. these six sections can be raised until the upper one is pressed up against the section 59. thus preventing the products of combustion from the fire-box that lowsthrough the flue 22. from entering the interior of the cylinder surrounding the shelf-tube.

The plate 42. is provided with downwardly projecting channel bars 72. that are positioned to extend around the 'outer sides of `the vertically projecting arms 67. of the truck. They are arranged'and adapted to act as confining and truck holding slideways and guideways on these arms to steadily hold the plate 42. and the retort cylinders and truck with its members in alinement with each other. Consequently when erecting a retort the sections of the shelf-tube and sections of the housing cylinder are plumbed up by this adjustable truck supporting mechanism and that part of. it that includes the truck and the several cylindrical housing rings can lie set up on the truck and can be plumbed up outside of the vretort if desired and then can be run into the brick casing.

This arched opening is closed up after the installation of the truck and its adjusting apparatus and the cylinders and after the com pletion of the retort, except that if desired a small air admitting and regulating door which I do not illustrate may be placed in it.

The interior of the shelf-tube forms principally an oil-shale heating and roasting flue bythe heat from it that penetrates it and its shelves into the space between it and its surrounding housing cylinder and it also acts as and forms a smoke-stack the same as the outside Hue 22. formed between the surrounding sectional housing cylinder and the inside wall of the brick casing which in addition to being a smoke-stack is naturally an oil-shale heating flue by the heat of radiation passing through the shell of the housing cylinder 18.

Consequently there are two oil-shale heating and roasting flues that heat, roast and sublimate the oil-shale and they operate from opposite directions and against opposite sides of the oil-shale in its falling passage down through the retort as will be more fully explained hereinafter.

The heat of the lire-box is drawn by the natural draft induced by the shelf-tube, through the fiue 61. and into the said tube.

There are three of the supporting bolts 70. and they have sprocket wheels 73. rigidly mounted thereon, which are connected by a sprocket chain 74. -By this means, the bolts are all turned simultaneously.

The condensers arc made of sheet metal and they decrease in length and consequently in capacity from the upper one down to the lowest one and they may be supported in their verticaLposition and arrangement by any suitable means. I do not illustrate, however, any means of supporting them, as they may be entirely housed with the retort in a suitable mill building. They are partitioned at a short distance apart throughout the height of the retort and a suiiicient number of them are used to insure that rapid and practically complete condensation of the gases wilLbe effected.

The operation of my oil-shale treating retort and its sublimating apparatus is as follows:

Oil-shale rock is crushed and pulverized to preferably from about a quarter inch mesh to about twenty mesh, depending on the quality as to hardness and the various elements in the shale, the pulverizing to bctween four and eight mesh is preferable.

The oil-shale rock after having been crushed and pulverized to the desired mesh is fed into the hopper from a source of supply through the ore chute' and from the hopper into the space between the upper ends of the two cylinders and upon the spirally arranged-shelves of the shelf-tube and sections 19.

In order to feed the oil-shaleA evenly through the circular opening between the sublimating cylinders I preferably rotate the hopper 29B, together with the tube 10. by means of suitable power transmitting mechanism which is connected to the sprocket wheel 29 in any suitable manner, but which I do not illustrate. y

The pulverized oil-shale falls from the rotating hopper and its fixed circular spout down through the retort, and as it falls it lodges on the upper surfaces of the shelves of the inner and outer cylinders all the way down to theiioor ring plate at the bottom of these two roasting and sublimating cylinders, practically all of the oil-shale that lodges on the shelves will have all of its Volatile elements sublimated and volatilized in a very few minutes after it is fed into the retort. The shale is carried around and down the retort in a spiral path, and that lodging on the ledges of the inner cylinder, is scraped ol` by the ledges of the outer cylinder, and vice-versa, the shale thus undergoing an intermittent dropping movement throughout its downward course, and by this means is thoroughly and evenly subjected to heat of a continuously increasing temperature until it reaches the bottom plate 42. The material that is carried down through the retort is the rock matter of the oil-shales which is called its tailings or gangue matter and which rolls easily ofi of the tops of the shelves of the cylinders after the volatile elements in it pass from it into gas, this tailings materialfalls tothe floor plate ring between and at the bottom ends of these cylinders and is discharged as a spent residue through and by the spiral conveyer; consequently the volatile elements of oilshale are sublimated quickly by indirect heat that radiates from the heat and smoke conveying lues through the shelves of the shelf-tube and its surrounding sectional into commercial products, and with the reconveying tort makes a simple-practical and economical apparatus, of large tonnage treatin capacity, and while I have illustratet its preferred construction and arrangement, changes can be made in it without departin from the spirt of my invention.

y present invention represents a new type of oil-shale treating retort, different from the apparatus patentedby me in Let- -ters Patent No. 1283723 and issued to me November 5, 1918.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is i 1. A vertical retortfor sublimatin the volatile elements of oil-shale, comprising 4a group of three cylinders within each other, the outeru cylinder of which forms a casing for the other two, the inner cylinder of said group bein provided with an axial heat ue, said retort being also provided with a yheatfco'nveying flue between its outer cylindrical 'casing and the middle cylinder, a fire-box connected to the flues of said retort for heating said cylinders, said two inner cylinders being arranged with an oil-shale feeding space between their adjacent surfaces and means for feeding oilshale into the space between said inner cylinders, and for rotating said inner cylinder. 2. A vertical retort for sublimatlng the volatile elements 'of oil-shale, comprising a group of three cylinders, within each other, the outer cylinder of which formsa casin for the other two, the inner cylinder o`f sai group bein provided with an axial .heat conveyin ue, said retort being also provided wit a heat conveying flue between its with an oil-shale feeding space between their outer cylindrical casing and the middle cylinder, a fire-box connected to the fiues of said retort for heating said cylinders; said two inner cylinders being arranged with an oil-shale feeding space between their adjacent surfaces and means for revolving the inner cylinder in said outer cylinder; said oil-shale feeding space being provided with thin overlapping spirally arranged shelves throughout its length adapted to receive the falling ore-shale, and means, including a revoluble hopper, for feeding oil-shale be'- tween said cylinders, evenly into and throughout their annular entrance.

3. A vertical retort for sublimating the volatile elements of oil-shale, comprising a group of three cylinders within each other, the outer cylinder of which forms a casing for the other two, the inner cylinder of said group being provided with an axial heat conveying iiue, said retortbeing also provided with a heat conveying flue between its outer cylindrical casing and the middle cylinder, a fire-box connected to the flues of said retort for heating said cylinders, said two inner cylinders being arranged adjacent surfaces and means for feeding oilshale into the space between 'said inner cylinders, said inner cylindrical member extending in a smoke stack portion above said retort, and an independent smoke stack connected to the ilue between said middle cylinder and the outer cylindrical casing of said retort and means for rotating said inner cylinder.

4. In a retort for treating oil-shales, the combination of the fire-box, the brick casing, and the inner shelf-tube and its housing cylinder provided with an annular flue space around them, said shelf-tube and its housing cylinder being arranged to form an annular feedway space between them along the shelves'of said shelf-tube, and means for feeding oil-shale evenly into the annular feedway between said cylinders; means for withdrawing the residue from the bottom of said feedwa-y; and means for operatively heating said flues, said oilshale feeding means comprising a revoluble hopper surrounding the top annular entrance to the feedway of said cylinders; and an annular distributing chute below said hopper -ar ranged to discharge the oil-shale in a circumferential stream into the annular feedwiy between said cylinders onto said shelves, a oor ring at the bottom of the feedway in said cylinders and means including a conveyer for discharging the treated oil-shale from the bottom of the feedway of said 12. feed cylinders.

5. In a retort of the character described,

the combination with a stack and a combus tion chamber connected therewith, of a hollow cyllndrical member in said stack and 13\ spaced therefrom to form a surrounding flue, said cylinder having overlapping, inwardly extending, spirally arran ed ledges; a revoluble flue within the cy inder and spaced therefrom having outwardly extending, overlapping, spirally arranged ledges, and means for feeding material into the space between said revoluble flue and the surrounding cylinder, said ledges being adapted to catch, agitate and drop the material step by step, in its passage down the retort, a conveyer at the lower end of the retort for removing the material, and a flue extending from the combustion chamber into the lower end of the revoluble flue.

6. In a retort of the character described, the combination with a combustion chamber and a stack connected therewith, of a hollow cylindrical member within the stack and spaced therefrom to form a surrounding flue, said cylindrical member being made up of individual sections which fit one within another, one of said sections being supported in said stack, thereby to support all of the sections above it, 'a truck at the bottom of the stack, an adjustable platform on the truck for supporting the sections below that section which is supported by the stack, a revoluble flue within the sectional cylinder and spaced therefrom, said sectional cylinder and revoluble flue being provided with spaced, over-lapping, spirally-arranged, cooperating, agitating ledges, means for feeding materials into the space surrounding the revoluble flue, and upon said ledges a conveyer leading from the lower end of said space and a flue leading from the combustion chamber into the lower end of said revoluble flue, said material being conveyed by the ledges, in a step by step, spiral path down the retort.

7. In a retort of the character described, the combination with a combustion Chamber having a stack leading therefrom, of a sectional, tubular member supported in and spaced from the stack to form a surrounding flue space, a circular stationary feed spout on the top of the stack, a power driven wheel rotatably mounted on said feed spout, a tubular flue secured within the hub portion of said wheel, and extending down through said sectional cylinder, and spaced therefrom, means for feeding material to the space surrounding the revoluble iue, a flue connecting the combustion chamber with the lower end of the revoluble flue, a conveyer leading from the lower end of the space surrounding said revoluble flue, said sectional member and revoluble flue being provided with spaced, overlapping, spirally arranged, coperating, agitating ledges which convey the material in a step by step spiral path, down the retort, condensing elements,l and pipes connecting the space traveled by the ore with said condensing elements.

In testimon whereof I affix my signature in presence o two witnesses.

JOHN H. GALLOUPE.

iVitnesses:

Gr. SARGENT ELLIOTT, ELIZABETH SMITH. 

